The guy seems to have be revealing in his Brett Kavanaugh win over the Democrats and the Media….

Gone are the winds of caution about just about anything….

For Trump and the Republicans?

The truth is unimportant ….

Right or wrong is unimportant….

Foreign Policy is unimportant….

All things Trump is the ‘Way’…

And for him?

It’s go HARD….or…..Go Home ….

‘I Won.’…

President Trump is finally fully merging his presidency with television, relishing the mounting amount of time that he’s devoting to filling the airwaves — while also ravenously consuming his productions.

The latest: Trump holds forth for an hour or more (much of it ad-libbed) at multiple campaign rallies each week, has added pregame and postgame shows with Fox News hosts to his repertoire, is blitzing Fox News more and more, and recently staged an impromptu “private Oval Office press conference” for New York Magazine.

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Yesterday, Trump reached peak TV with a wild, 47-minute call-in to “Fox & Friends,” followed hours later by a raucous 25 minutes in the Oval Office with rapper Kanye West, who wore a red “Make America Great Again” cap.

Trump has held more solo press conferences in the past month than he had in his first year.

On Sunday, Trump will be on “60 Minutes,” CNN’s Brian Stelter reports.

Even Fox News has had its fill, cutting back on its previous marathon live coverage of Trump’s campaign rallies. That may account for part of the reason he’s amped up his engagement.

When Anthony Scaramucci joined the White House for an epic 10 days as communications director, he said he wanted to produce a daily show from the White House lawn.

The White House is getting closer to that with his ever wilder and increasingly frequent free-for-alls with reporters.

Why it matters: Trump has told plenty of associates about his single-minded fixation on the visual. He doesn’t know details about policy, and doesn’t pretend to.

Trump’s top aides see the White House as the most valuable stage set in the world. Bill Shine, the former Fox News executive who this summer became deputy chief of staff for communications, wants to make better use of different elements of it — for instance, with more use of outdoor settings….

Presidents in the past have been criticized for being overexposed at different moments in their terms. In the spring of 2009, for example, President Barack Obama was seemingly everywhere while trying to sell his economic agenda, hosting a town hall meeting on CNN, before popping up on late night television with Jay Leno, and then talking about out his college basketball picks on ESPN.

But even the former president’s critics said in the end, it worked for him, just as it seems to work for Trump. “President’s never get overexposed,” said Bryan Lanza, a former Trump campaign aide. “The more they’re out there, the more they’re engaging the specific electorate. It’s oxygen to their supporters.”

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders agreed. “The President is always the best messenger,” she said. “It’s a great thing when the American people get to hear directly from him.”

Other White House officials accused the press of wanting it both ways: complaining when there’s not enough access, and accusing the president of overexposure when there seems to be too much.

“You are right the press just wants to complain,” Sanders added in an email. “It’s either not enough or it’s too much. I think the bigger story is that the President is only one person and he has more energy and stamina than all the press combined! They can’t keep up!”

There are differences, however, in Obama’s media tour and Trump’s seeming omnipresence, that contrast how they view the tool of the communications office, and what audience they are trying to target. Trump does not appear to be tying his interviews and media appearances to any policy he is trying to sell — rather, the press and the spotlight appear to be the ends in and of themselves…..

There was NO DEAL made with Turkey for the release and return of Pastor Andrew Brunson. I don’t make deals for hostages. There was, however, great appreciation on behalf of the United States, which will lead to good, perhaps great, relations between the United States & Turkey!

…

Pastor Andrew Brunson, released by Turkey, will be with me in the Oval Office at 2:30 P.M. (this afternoon). It will be wonderful to see and meet him. He is a great Christian who has been through such a tough experience. I would like to thank President @RT_Erdogan for his help!

Just because this case has been a main focus of the evangelical right’s’ very tunnel-visoned campaign for “religious freedom”, and just because VP Mike Pence made releasing Pastor Brunson a major Administration promise does NOT mean that those with other political views or other religious beliefs and unbeliefs should not also be glad at a small victory for real freedom of belief (one of FDR’s Four Freedoms).

Newly freed American pastor Andrew Brunson prayed over President Trump in the Oval Office and asked God to fill the president with “supernatural wisdom,” after returning to the U.S. on Saturday for the first time in nearly two years…..

(Reuters) – The Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania threatened to stomp on the face of his Democratic opponent in a social media video on Friday and then walked back his comments, saying he made a mistake in his choice of words.

Republican Scott Wagner is trailing well behind incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf in the polls ahead of the Nov. 6 election, and the video posted on Wagner’s campaign Facebook page was part of an acrimonious battle in one of most populous U.S. states.

“Governor Wolf, let me tell you what, between now and Nov. 6, you’d better put a catcher’s mask on your face because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes,” Wolf said in the video.

A few hours later, the video was taken down. Wagner explained: “I may have chosen a poor metaphor. I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

On his Facebook page, Wolf encouraged people to share the original video if they agreed that “Scott Wagner should not be the governor of Pennsylvania.”

The video with Wagner’s threat set off a social media storm and attracted the attention of a few prominent Republicans, including Steve Scalise, the No. 3 three Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“These comments are totally unacceptable. As I’ve said many times before, there is absolutely no place in our politics for this kind of rhetoric, said Scalise, who battled for his life after he was shot by a gunman who opened fire on Republican lawmakers during baseball practice in 2017.

Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner (R) took down a video saying that he would “stomp all over” Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) face Friday, stating that he had chosen a “poor metaphor” in making the comments.

Wagner said that “I shouldn’t have said what I said” in the Facebook video livestreamed Friday….

There is zero percent chance that Trump knows anything that Robert E. Lee did. The only information he knows about him is that he was a Confederate General that fought for slavery. This is what makes him a great general in Trump’s mind.

This isn’t gonna stop the guy from getting re-elected and maybe not from becoming the minority leader in the 2019 House…
But it DOES add to the sleaze narrative about GOPer’s….

“A company owned by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) in-laws won more than $7 million in no-bid and other federal contracts at U.S. military installations and other government properties in California based on a dubious claim of Native American identity by McCarthy’s brother-in-law,” a Los Angeles Times investigation has found.

“The prime contracts, awarded through a federal program designed to help disadvantaged minorities, were mostly for construction projects at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in McCarthy’s Bakersfield-based district, and the Naval Air Station Lemoore in nearby Kings County.”…

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL) quietly registered under no-party affiliation several weeks ago, the Tampa Bay Times reports, “spurred in large part by the pending birth of a daughter for whom they wanted to set an example and not be part of of the Trump party.”

Said Jolly: “It’s also just a personal rejection of partisanship. It’s a very comfortable place for us to be.”

The Atlantic: “In the clamorous story of Donald Trump’s Washington, it would be easy to mistake Gingrich for a minor character. A loyal Trump ally in 2016, Gingrich forwent a high-powered post in the administration and has instead spent the years since the election cashing in on his access—churning out books (three Trump hagiographies, one spy thriller), working the speaking circuit (where he commands as much as $75,000 per talk for his insights on the president), and popping up on Fox News as a paid contributor. He spends much of his time in Rome, where his wife, Callista, serves as Trump’s ambassador to the Vatican.”

“But few figures in modern history have done more than Gingrich to lay the groundwork for Trump’s rise. During his two decades in Congress, he pioneered a style of partisan combat—replete with name-calling, conspiracy theories, and strategic obstructionism—that poisoned America’s political culture and plunged Washington into permanent dysfunction. Gingrich’s career can perhaps be best understood as a grand exercise in devolution—an effort to strip American politics of the civilizing traits it had developed over time and return it to its most primal essence.”

.@StateDept @SecPompeo outside of the West Wing after our meeting this morning in the Oval Office…
…

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned last night from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. I met with him this morning wherein the Saudi situation was discussed in great detail, including his meeting with…
…the Crown Prince. He is waiting for the results of the investigations being done by the Saudis and Turkey, and just gave a news conference to that effect.

…

Congressman @DaveBratVA7th is one of the hardest working, and smartest, people in Washington. He is strong on the Border, Crime, the Military, our Vets and the 2nd Amendment. He is a powerful vote for MAGA and loves the Great State of Virginia. Dave has my Total Endorsement!

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I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to U.S…..
….In addition to stopping all payments to these countries, which seem to have almost no control over their population, I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!..
….The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA. Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!

…

Ever since his vicious and totally false statements about Admiral Ron Jackson, the highly respected White House Doctor for Obama, Bush & me, Senator John Tester looks to be in big trouble in the Great State of Montana! He behaved worse than the Democrat Mob did with Justice K!

Red Sox defeat Astros, 8-6, in ALCS Game 4
Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give the Red Sox the lead for good Wednesday, and they went on to an 8-6 victory in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

The Red Sox took a 3-1 lead in the series. Game 5 is Thursday (Tonight) at 8:09 p.m.

Rafael Devers hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning of Game 5 of the American League Championship Series Thursday to lift the Red Sox past the Astros and into the World Series.

David Price pitched six innings for his first postseason victory.

The Red Sox won the series, 4-1. The Red Sox will face the winner of the NLCS between the Dodgers and Brewers when the World Series begins on Tuesday in Boston. Game 6 of the NLCS is Friday in Milwaukee.

All things come to an end.That time has come for me as a participant here.Bluntly,I’m tired of politics.Never thought I would say that but I now realize it is true.Over the past few months, as my participation here declined ,I realized that I had just been going through the motions.I didn’t really care much anymore and my postings were just out of habit.James has said that we are supposed to have fun.I wasn’t having fun anymore.

I’ve enjoyed my interactions here with all of you over the years and wish all of you the best in the future.As for me, I have wound down my law practice ,am drifting into semi Retirement ,and am going to do some traveling and read the hundreds of books I never got around to over all these years.Oh yes and one final thing…

My Name Is Jack and I live in the back of the Greta Garbo home
With friends I will remember
Wherever I may roam

And my name is Jack and I live in the back of the Greta Garbo home for wayward boys and girls…We all Love Jack and we live in the back of the Greta Garbo home for wayward boys and girls

There comes Fred with his hands on his head cause he thinks he heard the bomb
And here comes Superman who really puts it on
I love to run up and down the stairs I make as much noise as I want and no one ever cares.

There comes Ted with his funny ol hat and he’s never sad at all
And when I grow up I want to run as fast as my friend Paul
There’s the prettiest girl in the whole wide world and her name is Melanie mend and here comes ma with Bobby Charles who’s probably my best friend.

And My Name is Jack and I live in the back of the Greta Garbo home for wayward boys and girls
We all love Jack and we live in the back of the Greta Garbo home for wayward boys and girls.
Manfred Mann…1968

I must admit some days I get tired myself….
It takes time reading in then doing posts…
Somedays it seems like the same story is running over and over…
Some days I marvel at what editors make reporters write….
Somedays I shake my head at after running this place for years that we here know just as much if not more that people who get paid for a living writing this stuff….

I have enjoyed your company Jack….
As I have said many times…
Your back and forth have made me better ….
Your points of view have brought knowledge and questions to us all…

I would hope that you do take a look at this place every-once and while, especially when politics rears it head across the headlines ….

Yes….
I started this place because Ron got tired and put Politic1 on auto pilot to do other things….
And you will join the list of others who have turned to other places and other things ….
Again….
I understand…
And I wish you the best…

Me?
I’m gonna keep up the song I sing here….
I’m gonna hope that maybe….MAYBE some new commenters might drop in…
But absent that….

They show will go on….
There ARE still some people out there that drop in and check this place out everyday….
And I , with help from my friends am gonna keep at this grind…
Because?
I’m still having FUN keeping an eye on the crazy assed Politics that effects us all even if it don’t feel like it….

Take care. You feel like an old friend, and you were one of the biggest reasons why I periodically check this site. I’m pleased that I did check it this morning so that I could say good bye.

In particular, I valued your comments on law. You always struck me as a good person; someone who votes for what is best for society. I could always depend on you to effectively and articulately defend your beliefs – even when we disagreed. I had hoped that some day we could meet, but largely because of bad luck, I haven’t been in Charleston in over 20 years.

I still have a great interest in politics. How can I not given that I genuinely believe that our democracy itself is in danger? I will continue to speak my mind, but I now have a more realistic understanding that doing so is usually just a waste a time for different reasons – depending on the person I am talking to or writing to.

But where else can we get insight into what has suddenly once again (after Nullification, John C. Calhoun, the first Secession ordinance, Fort Sumter, J. Strom Thurmond and L. Mendel Rivers) become a very important state for her size?

Heading to Nevada to help a man who has become a good friend, Senator Dean Heller. He is all about #MAGA and I need his Help and Talent in Washington. Also, Adam Laxalt will be a GREAT GOVERNOR, and has my complete and total Endorsement. Winners Both!

Leaving Arizona after a fantastic Rally last night, in Mesa, honoring, and for, Martha @RepMcSally McSally. She is an inspiration & will be a GREAT SENATOR for the people of Arizona. Her opponent is a Nancy Pelosi puppet, really bad for State. Early Voting NOW! Will be back soon.

Rick Scott is known as easily one of the best Governors in the USA. Florida is setting records in almost every category of success. Amazing achievement-the envy of the World. Ron DeSantis will build on this success. His incompetent opponent will destroy Florida – next Venezuela!

Ron @RonDeSantisFL DeSantis is working hard. A great Congressman and top student at Harvard & Yale, Ron will be a record setting governor for Florida. Rick Scott gave him tremendous foundations to further build on. His opponent runs one of the worst & most corrupt cities in USA!

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be a great governor. He has been successful at whatever he has done, and has prepared for this very difficult and complex job for many years. He has my Strong Endorsement. His opponent is totally unqualified. Would destroy a great state!

If the Democrats would stop being obstructionists and come together, we could write up and agree to new immigration laws in less than one hour. Look at the needless pain and suffering that they are causing. Look at the horrors taking place on the Border. Chuck & Nancy, call me!

Cutting aid to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala may be wildly popular with The Base, and may assuage Trump’s sense of impotence in face of the Caravan, but of course is colossally counter-productive — whether in organized or individual fashion, conditions in northern Central America will continue to drive its residents, willy-nilly, up North. Aggravating the poverty, violence, dysfunction and general hopelessness will hardly encourage them to stay.

Donald J. Trump‏
Verified account
@realDonaldTrump

3 hours ago
Big Night In Texas!!!!
…
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S. We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.
…
Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws! Remember the Midterms! So unfair to those who come in legally.

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Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws!
17,049 replies 18,765 retweets 63,297 likes

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Congressman Tom Reed of New York’s 23rd District has done a great job. He has my complete and total Endorsement!
2,355 replies 6,544 retweets 26,346 likes

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Ron @RonDeSantisFL DeSantis had a great debate victory tonight against Andrew Gillum, a mayor who presides over one of the worst run, and most corrupt, cities in Florida. Ron will build on the great job done by Governor Rick Scott. Gillum will make Florida the next Venezuela!
14,650 replies 19,539 retweets 64,841 likes

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Facebook has just stated that they are setting up a system to “purge” themselves of Fake News. Does that mean CNN will finally be put out of business?
30,274 replies 40,966 retweets 155,834 likes

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Best Jobs Numbers in the history of our great Country! Many other things likewise. So why wouldn’t we win the Midterms? Dems can never do even nearly as well! Think of what will happen to your now beautiful 401-k’s!
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The Caravans are a disgrace to the Democrat Party. Change the immigration laws NOW!
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Full efforts are being made to stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from crossing our Souther Border. People have to apply for asylum in Mexico first, and if they fail to do that, the U.S. will turn them away. The courts are asking the U.S. to do things that are not doable!
14,927 replies 25,041 retweets 92,967 likes

(Reuters) – James “Whitey” Bulger, who lived a double life as one of Boston’s most notorious mobsters and as a secret FBI informant before going on the run for 16 years, was found dead at a federal prison in West Virginia, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into Bulger’s death, the Bureau of Prisons said in its statement.

Bulger’s death at age 89 came a day after he was transferred to the high-security prison. Federal officials did not give a cause of death but the Bureau of Prisons said no other inmates or staff were injured. CNN and the Boston Globe reported that Bulger was killed without giving further details.

Henry Brennan, a defense lawyer for Bulger, said in an email he could not confirm or deny the reports.

Bulger was convicted in August 2013 of 11 murders, among other charges including racketeering, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus five years.

Prison had been something Bulger had gone to great lengths to avoid – killing potential witnesses, cultivating corrupt lawmen and living as a fugitive for 16 years. It all ended when a tip from a former Icelandic beauty queen led to his capture in June 2011 in Santa Monica, California, where he was living with a long-time girlfriend.

Bulger and his Winter Hill gang had operated for more than two decades in the insular Irish-dominated South Boston neighborhood, engaging in loan sharking, gambling, extortion, drug dealing and murder. They did so with the tacit approval of an FBI agent who looked the other way when it came to Bulger’s crimes so that he would supply information on other gangsters….

@GFTrib_PDrake
Just got off conference call where Libertarian candidate Rick Breckenridge throws support to Republican Matt Rosendale. Breckenridge says he did not have numbers to win seat.
1,045 replies 3,402 retweets 12,549 likes

6 hours ago

Just had a long and very good conversation with President Xi Jinping of China. We talked about many subjects, with a heavy emphasis on Trade. Those discussions are moving along nicely with meetings being scheduled at the G-20 in Argentina. Also had good discussion on North Korea!

A cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers knelt during the national anthem ahead of Thursday’s game against the Oakland Raiders at Levi’s Stadium.
The cheerleader, who has yet to be identified, took a knee as the roster of uniformed women stood around her, their pom-poms held aloft.

She follows the model set by her team’s former quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who was the first in the NFL to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality…..

(Reuters) – Two federal courts on Friday issued rulings that order Georgia to allow some 3,000 naturalized U.S. citizens to vote in elections next week and prevent the state from throwing out some absentee ballots.

The rulings are a rebuke to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, whose office oversees the voter rolls and who is the Republican candidate in the state’s hotly contested gubernatorial race.

The issue of voter suppression has been central to the governor’s race in Georgia, where Kemp is facing Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams, who is seeking to become the country’s first female, black governor.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta issued the order to allow some 3,000 recently naturalized U.S. citizens to vote after their registrations were put on hold.

Civil rights groups sued Kemp in October over 50,000 voting registration applications placed on hold due to Georgia’s “exact-match” law, requiring that personal information on voter applications match what is on state databases.

Ross’ ruling allows the naturalized citizens to vote in Tuesday’s midterm election if they present proof of citizenship at the polls.

In the case on absentee ballots, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit rejected Kemp’s request to stay a lower court’s ruling blocking election officials from throwing out absentee ballots for a supposed signature mismatch, without giving voters an opportunity to contest that and confirm their identity.

“INAPPROPRIATE TO CHANGE”

Kemp’s spokesman, Candice Broce, called the ruling about naturalized citizens a “minor change”, while criticizing the decision on absentee ballots.

“Despite this outcome, our concern remains that it is inappropriate to change long-standing procedures this close to an election,” Broce said in a statement on the decision on absentee ballots. “Nonetheless, the state and counties will comply with” the ruling….